On June 18, 1967, Jimi Hendrix and the Experience electrified festival goers at the Monterey Pop Festival. Images of Hendrix, setting his Fender Stratocaster guitar on fire, quickly circulated through the media and their inspired concert performance catapulted Hendrix to stardom in America. Hendrix owned this Middle Eastern-style velvet vest and wore a similar one during the historic Monterey performance.

Born in Seattle in 1942, Hendrix displayed interest in music at an early age. Receiving a one-stringed ukulele from his father, Al, young Jimi mimicked melodies he heard on the radio and television. Hendrix’s later influences ranged from blues legends such as B. B. King and Robert Johnson to early Rock and Roll pioneers Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. After receiving his first guitar in 1958, Jimi began teaching himself how to play and soon joined his first bands, The Velvetones, and the Rocking Kings.

In 1961, Hendrix enlisted in the U.S. Army, and while stationed in Kentucky, met bassist Billy Cox.  Together, they formed a band called the King Kasuals. Hendrix moved to Harlem in 1965. After hearing him perform in Greenwich Village, producer Chas Chandler offered to bring the artist to England. His newly formed band, The Experience, quickly moved up the UK Billboard charts with a series of hits.

After a sensational performance at Monterey, Hendrix begins headlining festivals and concerts across the globe, including the Woodstock Festival in 1969, where he performs a stirring rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner”. Tragically, on September 18, 1970, at age 27, Jimi Hendrix dies from a drug overdose, in London, England.

The vest pictured above is now in the collection of theSmithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visitors to the museum can view this object in the “Musical Crossroads” exhibition.

Credits and Sources:

2014.97.2 - Vest worn by Jimi Hendrix, 1960s. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Hendrix, Leon, and Adam D. Mitchell. Jimi Hendrix: A Brother's Story. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2012.

"Jimi Hendrix." The Official Site. Accessed January 6, 2016. http://www.jimihendrix.com/us/jimi.